Nyaung Shwe -Free Day - Dec 1

Yikes! Bikes! Glad I took out that trip insurance! I hadn't been on a bike in years..., well like they say "it's just like riding a bike". So off we go at 7:30 AM with Nathan in the lead and Ko Ko playing sheep dog again. And it's beep, beep, beep. Holy jumping Buddha I am as far over to the right as I can get man! Every bleepin' scooter, car, and truck passing us has to beep like there is no tomorrow.

Soon we reach our destination, "the temple of the oval windows". That's what Nathan calls it; I'm pretty sure that is not the official name. While I am playing with a couple of cute little  puppies,

Ko Ko arranges for a young monk to pose in the window and soon the staccato of shutter clicks begins again. Have to admit, it really is a nice location for a monk portrait.

 We have been shooting outside the temple so it was shoes on, but then we entered one of the religious areas for another location shot and off they came. This is a great setting too, with all the little Buddha statues filling the walls, and great diffuse lighting on our monk.

We finally let the boy go back to start his daily class. Again a donation to the monastery was made. While the others took pictures of the rest of the interior of this area I went back to the original temple. Initially I intended to just photograph from outside, but then noticed a bunch of what were obviously tourists' shoes at the base of the steps leading inside, I decided to go in. I wasn't the only one who noticed the shoes!

Risking mutilation of my shoes by those little rascals I went in and found it to be this really beautiful structure with incredibly smooth and shiny wooden floors. The young monks were sitting cross-legged on the floor writing in their workbooks. Wow, what a great opportunity for some great shots. If only they weren't so shy. They would duck their heads whenever I pointed the camera in their direction.

It wasn't until later I found out there was a sign outside asking you not to photograph the young monks. Oh, well, I guess I'll be going to the Buddhist equivalent of purgatory.

The rest of the day we were free to take the bikes and do whatever. We all initially headed back towards the hotel, stopping at a place called "The French Touch". This was a really cool cafe with some incredible photos on the walls, all credited to the photographic skills of the owner.

And the food was great too. I ordered a cappuccino and a chocolate croissant. Delicious! Made with Illy coffee, who'd a thunk it?

Found my way back to the hotel and decided to spend the rest of the day working on the blog.